Twenty-seventh

It was Christmas Eve. Once again, my parents left me alone at home, chasing triple pay at work. However, after twenty years of the same lonely holiday, I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want to sit in the quiet house by myself again, so I packed up some sandwiches and went to them. What I didn’t expect was to see them stepping out of a luxury car, arms linked with a boy who looked about my age, laughing like they didn’t have a care in the world, heading straight into a five-star hotel. “Mom, Dad, is it okay to leave Suzie all alone at home like that?” My mom waved it off and said, “It’s fine. She’s used to it.” My dad just brushed it off with a chuckle. “She’s nothing like you. You're our real treasure.” Upon hearing that, I turned and walked away. They'd been pretending to be broke all these years, lying to me about working overtime, about scraping by. Well, fine. If they don’t want me, I’m done wanting them, too.

On our sixth wedding anniversary, I felt a seam split open in my skull. Not from pain, but from truth. “Ethan, that new assistant… how does she taste?” Marcus’s thought, slick as oil. Ethan's reply slithered through my veins: "Young. Tender. Like summer berries." His lips shaped a lie. His hand shielded me from the crowd, even as his fingers pressed a blood-red cocktail into my palm. "Don't let Lena find out,"he thought, the words clear as speech. "I’d in a big trouble." Laughter swirled. Champagne clinked.their mind. Nobody knew I could hear every thought ,the ability to read minds awakened in me last night. . Nobody knew I had already known about his betrayal long ago. There were no tears, no screams I just replied “yes” to Professor Johnson’s encrypted call-the path I should have chosen six years ago. In three days, I would vanish. Not running from him. Running back to who I was at twenty—the rising star of virus research.

On the day the true heiress and I swapped places, my childhood sweetheart, bound to me by a promise made in youth, gripped my hand before our families and declared, "I chose you, not your title." Anna Pedersen, tears brimming in her eyes, enveloped me in a trembling embrace. "Joanne, we'll always be family. I'd never take what's rightfully yours." Everyone assumed I'd turned misfortune into fortune. Though I lost my status as the Pedersen heiress, I gained a steadfast lover and a selfless sister. But three years after fate corrected itself, photos of Calvin Thomas escorting Anna to a prenatal checkup flooded the internet. When I confronted him, he exhaled a plume of smoke and said coolly, "Anna is my true betrothed. This is just setting things right. Why are you so worked up?" He seized my wrist and dragged our engraved engagement ring across the back of my hand, leaving a bloody gash. "This scar will remind you of the twenty years of life you stole. Your life and I belong to their rightful owner."

"The Elders have chosen. Omega Jessa Malraux walks into the dark woods tonight and she is not expected to return." ★★★★★★ Jessa Malraux has spent twenty-five years being invisible to everyone in Silverwood until the night the Elders decide her life is worth sacrificing. Thrown into the cursed dark woods during a blood eclipse, Jessa expects to die alone. Instead, three powerful Alphas, the honorable Jarek, the charming Cassian, and the cold, cruel Denric, charge in after her and strike a dangerous bargain with an ancient spirit to save her life. The price? All three men must claim Jessa as their fated mate. Now Jessa lives under the same roof as the man who tormented her for twenty years, a flirt who sees straight through her walls, and an Alpha whose quiet intensity makes her forget every reason she built those walls in the first place. The town still wants her gone. The darkness that claimed her is not finished. And three men who never wanted a mate are slowly realizing they cannot breathe without her. But can Jessa finally believe she is worth fighting for before the dark comes back to finish what it started?

Maisse, a twenty four year old partial orphan finds herself in trouble when she is laid off her job and her other workplace sold to a Billionaire. She has to find a way to earn money to support her twin sisters through school. To add salt to the injury, her father tells her that he has arranged for her to get married to a strange man. Her father has already gotten a part of her bride price. Maisse is torn between running away from home and taking care of her sisters. She has to make a difficult choice. If she agrees to get married to someone she does not love, who will take care of her sisters, and how will she live with someone who bought her with cash. If she refused to get married and runs away, her father will turn to her little sisters. The billionaire on the other hand has to fulfill his grandfather's dying wish: To marry so as to access the inheritance. He falls in love with Maisse before the wedding day but Maisse flees after he makes a decision that affects her life and that of her sisters.

A powerful alpha? A powerful female alpha? Or should it be the most powerful and respected female alpha? So respected, even by her haters. Alpha Deluna Hansen is the typical american italian beauty, but not a human. Be in her human form, she's a angel with the killer curves. Be in her wolf self, she's fierce and strong. Alpha Luna enjoys the peace of her pack and not being interrupted by attacks. But she misses just one thing: a mate. She's desperate to find one and even more desperate to fulfill her promise. All desires to be with her mate dies when she finds out she's mated to a weak human, and she only finds the mating topic disgusting. But a vow is barely breakable. Luna is obliged by her vow to go after her mate and make him hers. No matter what, she's bound to present him as her Lord before she clocks twenty five. But what happens when she realizes her mate is just the exact opposite of what she imagined him to be? And when she finds out she's the weak one in actual?

Twenty years ago, Thantos Abraxas, The Alpha of the Crescent Shadow werewolf pack went on a powerfueled rampage. Leaving every other pack with just one choice, bow down or die. He ripped through pack after pack, slaughtering it's members and forcing many others into hidding. Even worse, he destroyed every pack's wolfsbane plants, forcing them to lose control of their wolf selves during the full moon. Luckily the packs that hid were able to escape with some, but only enough for their own. Now, the Crimson River pack's wolfsbane is nearing complete depletion and the werewolves wont survive for long without it. The vicious killings of so many humans from nearby towns are beginning to draw hunters to the packs location. But luckily, there is still one hope left. Their Alpha, Grayson Sinclair, sends his nieces Malia and Iselyn to try and reason with Thantos in his old age for some of his wolfsbane. But will the girls be willing to compromise with the monster that put them in this situation to begin with? With the hunters closing in on their family, do they even have time to think about it? Will they even have a home to go back to? One thing's for sure. Grayson will never bow down to another. And neither will they.

After being reborn, the first thing I did was forge a medical report diagnosing chronic kidney disease. In my previous life, my nephew had been diagnosed with kidney failure, and he needed a transplant to survive. I rushed to get a matching test and donated one of my kidneys to him. But over time, my health deteriorated. At twenty, my body felt like it belonged to someone eighty. Even simple chores like sweeping the floor left me exhausted. I couldn't go out to work or earn a living, yet my brother and sister-in-law scolded me for "pretending to be sick." "It's just a kidney." my sister-in-law snapped. "Do you expect to leech off our family forever?" She even went so far as to buy a pair of fresh pig kidneys and smash them in my face. "Since we took one of yours, here's a new pair. Happy now?" Because I had lost a kidney, I died before the age of thirty, alone in a rented apartment. The next time I opened my eyes, I was back—before my nephew's diagnosis even came in.

Alexis was a twenty five years old orphan girl, her parent were wealthy, in fact they were the most richest couple in the whole federation. But after their demise, life became hell for Alexis, her stepmother Linda despised her, she caused her to suffer, and eventually Alexis became outcast. But then a twist of fate, she help an old Chinese man, who later taught her many self defense skills, he also taught her ancient Chinese traditional medicine skills. On the man death bed, he gave his acupuncture needle to Alexis as gift, and this became Alexis only personal belongings even in her own father house. But then Linda only intensified her hatred, and life became so miserable for Alexi. On a given, she became so devastated that she wish for death, in her anger and sorrow, she vent all her anger on the Senate President of the Federation unknowingly. But what ought to kill her, eventually became a blessing for her, Mr. Senate President adopted her, she had a new mother (Faith) and new older brother (Tommy). Now together with her new family support, she fought back for her parent belongings from the grasp of her Stepmother and her lover.

I had been dating Lily Foster for three years, and she strictly insisted on splitting every expense. When my mother needed surgery and I was short twenty thousand dollars, she looked troubled. “Aaron, we agreed on financial independence.” I went everywhere trying to borrow money, while she turned around and bought her brother a Ferrari outright. When I confronted her, she answered without a hint of guilt. “That’s my money. What does it have to do with you? “And besides, you’re a man. You can’t always expect a woman to support you, right?” Her brother drove the sports car right up in front of me, showing off. “My sister said it herself—your money is her money, but her money is still hers.” I laughed. Because just a moment ago, I had activated the “Malice Cashback” system. For every trace of hostility someone directed at me, I would receive a hundredfold cash return. Lily stood in front of me, frowning in disgust. “What are you laughing at? You look like an idiot.” [Ding! Received 20 hostility points from Lily Foster. Cashback of $2,000 has been credited.]